ecm-kde-modules

title: ecm-kde-modules(7)

summary: ECM KDE Modules Reference

text:
# ecm-kde-modules(7)

## NAME
ecm-kde-modules - ECM KDE Modules Reference

## INTRODUCTION
Extra CMake Modules (ECM) provides several modules that provide default settings (like installation directories, compiler flags and other CMake options) aimed at software produced by the KDE modules; these are documented here. ECM also provides modules with more general functionality, documented in ecm-modules(7) <#manual:ecm-modules(7)>, and ones that extend the functionality of the find_package command, documented in ecm-find-modules(7) <#manual:ecm-find-modules(7)>.

To use these modules, you need to tell CMake to find the ECM package, and then add either ${ECM_MODULE_PATH} or ${ECM_KDE_MODULE_DIR} to the CMAKE_MODULE_PATH variable:

```
find_package(ECM REQUIRED NO_MODULE)
set(CMAKE_MODULE_PATH ${ECM_MODULE_DIR})
```

Using ${ECM_MODULE_PATH} will also make the other types of modules available.

## ALL KDE MODULES

### KDECMakeSettings
Changes various CMake settings to what the KDE community views as more sensible defaults.

It is recommended to include this module with the NO_POLICY_SCOPE flag, otherwise you may get spurious warnings with some versions of CMake.

It is split into three parts, which can be independently disabled if desired.

### Runtime Paths
The default runtime path (used on Unix systems to search for dynamically-linked libraries) is set to include the location that libraries will be installed to (as set in LIB_INSTALL_DIR or, if the former is not set, KDE_INSTALL_LIBDIR), and also the linker search path.

Note:

LIB_INSTALL_DIR or alternatively KDE_INSTALL_LIBDIR needs to be set before including this module. Typically, this is done by including the KDEInstallDirs <#kde-module:KDEInstallDirs> module.

This section can be disabled by setting KDE_SKIP_RPATH_SETTINGS to TRUE before including this module.

### Testing
Testing is enabled by default, and an option BUILD_TESTING is provided for users to control this. See the CTest module documentation in the CMake manual for more details.

This section can be disabled by setting KDE_SKIP_TEST_SETTINGS to TRUE before including this module.

### Build Settings
Various CMake build defaults are altered, such as searching source and build directories for includes first, enabling automoc by default.

When find_package(ECM 5.38) or higher is called, this also selects a layout for the build dir that helps running executables without installing: all executables are built into a toplevel “bin” dir, making it possible to find helper binaries, and to find uninstalled plugins (provided that you use kcoreaddons_add_plugin() or set LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY as documented on <https://community.kde.org/Guidelines_and_HOWTOs/Making_apps_run_uninstalled>).

This section can be disabled by setting KDE_SKIP_BUILD_SETTINGS to TRUE before including this module.

This section also provides an uninstall target that can be individually disabled by setting KDE_SKIP_UNINSTALL_TARGET to TRUE before including this module.

By default on OS X, X11 and XCB related detections are disabled. However if the need would arise to use these technologies, the detection can be enabled by setting APPLE_FORCE_X11 to ON.

A warning is printed for the developer to know that the detection is disabled on OS X. This message can be turned off by setting APPLE_SUPPRESS_X11_WARNING to ON.

Since pre-1.0.0.

ENABLE_CLAZY option is added (OFF by default) when clang is being used. Turning this option on will force clang to load the clazy plugins for richer warnings on Qt-related code.

If clang is not being used, this won’t have an effect. See <https://commits.kde.org/clazy?path=README.md>

Since 5.17.0

- uninstall target functionality since 1.7.0

- APPLE_FORCE_X11 option since 5.14.0 (detecting X11 was previously the default behavior)

- APPLE_SUPPRESS_X11_WARNING option since 5.14.0

- CMAKE_AUTORCC enabled by default when supported by CMake (>= 3.0) since 5.62.0

Since 6.25.0

Disable CMAKE_CXX_SCAN_FOR_MODULES by default.

### Translations (deprecated)
A fetch-translations target will be set up that will download translations for projects using l10n.kde.org.

KDE_L10N_BRANCH will be responsible for choosing which l10n branch to use for the translations.

KDE_L10N_AUTO_TRANSLATIONS (OFF by default) will indicate whether translations should be downloaded when building the project.

Since 5.34.0

KDE_L10N_SYNC_TRANSLATIONS (OFF by default) will download the translations at configuration time instead of build time.

Since 5.50.0

All KDE_L10N_* options have been deprecated since 5.102.0, as translations are meanwhile present inside the source code repositories.

### KDEClangFormat
This module provides a functionality to format the source code of your repository according to a predefined KDE clang-format file.

This module provides the following function:

```
kde_clang_format(<files>)
```

Using this function will create a clang-format target that will format all <files> passed to the function with the predefined KDE clang-format style. To format the files you have to invoke the target with make clang-format or ninja clang-format. Once the project is formatted it is recommended to enforce the formatting using a pre-commit hook, this can be done using KDEGitCommitHooks <#kde-module:KDEGitCommitHooks>.

The .clang-format file from ECM will be copied to the source directory. This file should not be added to version control. It is recommended to add it to the .gitignore file: /.clang-format.

Since 5.79: If the source folder already contains a .clang-format file it is not overwritten. Since version 5.80 this function is called by default in KDEFrameworkCompilerSettings <#kde-module:KDEFrameworkCompilerSettings>. If directories should be excluded from the formatting a .clang-format file with DisableFormat: true and SortIncludes: false should be created.

Example usage:

```
include(KDEClangFormat)
file(GLOB_RECURSE ALL_CLANG_FORMAT_SOURCE_FILES *.cpp *.h *.hpp *.c)
kde_clang_format(${ALL_CLANG_FORMAT_SOURCE_FILES})
```

To exclude directories from the formatting add a .clang-format file in the directory with the following contents:

```
DisableFormat: true
SortIncludes: false
```

Since 5.64

### KDECompilerSettings
Set useful compile and link flags for C++ (and C) code.

Enables many more warnings than the default, and sets stricter modes for some compiler features. By default, exceptions are disabled; kde_target_enable_exceptions() can be used to re-enable them for a specific target.

Note:

It is recommended to include this module with the NO_POLICY_SCOPE flag, otherwise you may get spurious warnings with some versions of CMake.

Since 5.85 newer settings are controlled by a variable KDE_COMPILERSETTINGS_LEVEL, taking an ECM version as value. That version can not be greater than the minimum required ECM version. The settings which are default at that version will then be used, but can be overridden by more fine-grained controls (see respective settings). This variable needs to be set before including this module, otherwise defaults to the minimum required ECM version.

### Modern code
The following CMake C standard default variables are set:

For KDE_COMPILERSETTINGS_LEVEL >= 5.85:

- CMAKE_C_STANDARD: 99

- CMAKE_C_STANDARD_REQUIRED: TRUE

- CMAKE_C_EXTENSIONS: OFF

Otherwise:

- CMAKE_C_STANDARD: 90

- CMAKE_C_STANDARD_REQUIRED: not modified

- CMAKE_C_EXTENSIONS: not modified

If the variable CMAKE_C_STANDARD is already set when including this module, none of the above variables will be modified.

The following CMake C++ standard default variables are set:

For KDE_COMPILERSETTINGS_LEVEL >= 6.13:

- CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD: 20

- CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED: TRUE

- CMAKE_CXX_EXTENSIONS: OFF

For KDE_COMPILERSETTINGS_LEVEL >= 5.85:

- CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD: 17

- CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED: TRUE

- CMAKE_CXX_EXTENSIONS: OFF

Otherwise:

- CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD: 11

- CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED: TRUE

- CMAKE_CXX_EXTENSIONS: not modified.

If the variable CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD is already set when including this module, none of the above variables will be modified.

The following C++ compiler flags are set:

- -pedantic (GNU and Clang compilers, since 5.85) Can be disabled by setting KDE_SKIP_PEDANTIC_WARNINGS_SETTINGS to TRUE before including this module (default is FALSE for KDE_COMPILERSETTINGS_LEVEL >= 5.85, TRUE otherwise).

- -Wmissing-include-dirs (GNU compilers, since 5.85) Can be disabled by setting KDE_SKIP_MISSING_INCLUDE_DIRS_WARNINGS_SETTINGS to TRUE before including this module (default is FALSE for KDE_COMPILERSETTINGS_LEVEL >= 5.85, TRUE otherwise).

- -Wzero-as-null-pointer-constant (GNU and Clang compilers, since 5.85) Can be disabled by setting KDE_SKIP_NULLPTR_WARNINGS_SETTINGS to TRUE before including this module (default is FALSE for KDE_COMPILERSETTINGS_LEVEL >= 5.85, TRUE otherwise).

- -Werror=undef (GNU and Clang compilers, since 5.96.0)

- Qt related preprocessor definitions (since 5.85.0):

- -DQT_NO_CAST_TO_ASCII

- -DQT_NO_CAST_FROM_ASCII

- -DQT_NO_URL_CAST_FROM_STRING

- -DQT_NO_CAST_FROM_BYTEARRAY

- -DQT_USE_QSTRINGBUILDER

- -DQT_NO_NARROWING_CONVERSIONS_IN_CONNECT

- -DQT_NO_KEYWORDS

- -DQT_NO_FOREACH

- -DQT_STRICT_ITERATORS Strict iterators are not enabled on Windows, because they lead to a link error when application code iterates over a QVector<QPoint> for instance, unless Qt itself was also built with strict iterators. See example at <https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/AUTOSUITE-946>

Can be controlled by setting KDE_QT_MODERNCODE_DEFINITIONS_LEVEL to the version of ECM where the wanted set of definitions has been added before including this module (default is KDE_COMPILERSETTINGS_LEVEL). To disable individual definitions instead use remove_definitions() directly after including this module.

### Functions
This module provides the following functions:

```
kde_source_files_enable_exceptions([file1 [file2 [...]]])
```

Enables exceptions for specific source files. This should not be used on source files in a language other than C++.

```
kde_target_enable_exceptions(target <INTERFACE|PUBLIC|PRIVATE>)
```

Enables exceptions for a specific target. This should not be used on a target that has source files in a language other than C++.

```
kde_enable_exceptions()
```

Enables exceptions for C++ source files compiled for the CMakeLists.txt file in the current directory and all subdirectories.

### Variables
Inclusion of this module defines the following variables:

ENABLE_BSYMBOLICFUNCTIONS

indicates whether we make use of -Bsymbolic-functions for linking. It ensures libraries bind global function references locally rather than at runtime. This option only has an effect on ELF-based systems. The option is disabled by default except when using KDEFrameworkCompilerSettings <#kde-module:KDEFrameworkCompilerSettings> where it’s enabled. Projects can enable it by calling set(ENABLE_BSYMBOLICFUNCTIONS ON) or passing -DENABLE BSYMBOLICFUNCTIONS=ON when configuring the build directory.

Since 5.85

ECM_FORCE_ASSERTS

Enable Q_ASSERT regardless of CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE. Off by default. Since 6.24

Example usages:

```
# needing some macro/feature only available with ECM 5.80.0
find_package(ECM 5.80.0 NO_MODULE)
# requiring ECM 5.80.0 above will default KDE_COMPILERSETTINGS_LEVEL also to 5.80.0,
# thus not activate any newer settings
include(KDECompilerSettings NO_POLICY_SCOPE)
```

```
# needing some macro/feature only available with ECM 5.87.0
find_package(ECM 5.87.0 NO_MODULE)
# project uses settings default as of KDECompilerSettings in ECM 5.85.0
set(KDE_COMPILERSETTINGS_LEVEL 5.85.0)
include(KDECompilerSettings NO_POLICY_SCOPE)
```

```
# needing some macro/feature only available with ECM 5.87.0
find_package(ECM 5.87.0 NO_MODULE)
# project mainly uses settings default as of KDECompilerSettings in ECM 5.85.0
# with some small twisting
set(KDE_COMPILERSETTINGS_LEVEL 5.85.0)
# not ready yet for pedantic compilers
set(KDE_SKIP_PEDANTIC_WARNINGS_SETTINGS TRUE)
# avoid any Qt definitions
set(KDE_QT_MODERNCODE_DEFINITIONS_LEVEL 5.84.0)
include(KDECompilerSettings NO_POLICY_SCOPE)
```

```
# needing some macro/feature only available with ECM 5.85.0
find_package(ECM 5.85.0 NO_MODULE)
# requiring ECM 5.85.0 above will default KDE_COMPILERSETTINGS_LEVEL also to 5.85.0,
# which again defaults KDE_QT_MODERNCODE_DEFINITIONS_LEVEL also to 5.85.0
include(KDECompilerSettings NO_POLICY_SCOPE)
# project is fine with almost all added Qt definitions as of 5.85.0, but not these ones:
remove_definitions(

    -DQT_NO_KEYWORDS

    -DQT_NO_FOREACH
)
```

Since pre-1.0.0.

### KDEFrameworkCompilerSettings
Set stricter compile and link flags for KDE Frameworks modules.

Warning:

Do not use this module for software which is not part of KDE-Frameworks. There is no guarantee for backward-compatibility in newer versions.

The KDECompilerSettings <#kde-module:KDECompilerSettings> module is included and, in addition, various defines that affect the Qt libraries are set to enforce certain conventions.

For example, constructions like QString("foo") are prohibited, instead forcing the use of QLatin1String or QStringLiteral, and some Qt-defined keywords like signals and slots will not be defined.

Note:

It is recommended to include this module with the NO_POLICY_SCOPE flag, otherwise you may get spurious warnings with some versions of CMake.

Since pre-1.0.0.

### KDEGitCommitHooks
This module provides a functionality to enforce formatting or in the future other QS checks.

This module provides the following function:

```
kde_configure_git_pre_commit_hook(

   CHECKS <check1> [<check2> [...]

   [CUSTOM_SCRIPTS [<script paths> [<script paths> ...]]] # since 5.109
)
```

This function will create a pre-commit hook which contains all the given checks. In addition to that, you can pass in paths to custom scripts that will be run as the pre-commit hook. If a custom hooks directory is set via core.hooksPath, a warning is issued.

The created pre-commit script will also execute any custom user-provided scripts located in .git/hooks/pre-commit.d directory.

Checks:

- CLANG_FORMAT With this check enabled the git clang-format tool will be used to make sure that the changed parts are properly formatted. In case the changes are not properly formatted an error message with the command to preview the formatting changes and to format the files in place will be displayed. This tool will reuse the existing .clang-format file, in case you want to use the one provided by ECM you can include include(KDEClangFormat) which will copy the file to the source dir. It is also recommended to reformat the entire project before enforcing the formatting using this commit hook.

- JSON_SCHEMA Since 5.110, uses the check-jsonschema CLI tool to ensure that all files are valid JSON and match the KPluginMetaData spec. This only applied if the JSON file has a “KPlugin” object in its root. To ignore invalid files, for example for testing error handling, given files can be excluded in the .kde-ci.yml file Define Options.json-validate-ignore with an array of the files you want to ignore

Example usage:

```
include(KDEGitCommitHooks)
kde_configure_git_pre_commit_hook(CHECKS JSON_SCHEMA CLANG_FORMAT)
```

Since 5.79

### KDEInstallDirs
Compatibility wrapper around KDEInstallDirs5 <#kde-module:KDEInstallDirs5>.

Since 5.82.0, prior to that equivalent to KDEInstallDirs5 <#kde-module:KDEInstallDirs5>.

### KDEInstallDirs5
Define KDE standard installation directories for Qt5/KF5 based software.

Note that none of the variables defined by this module provide any information about the location of already-installed KDE software.

Also sets CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX to the installation prefix of ECM, unless that variable has been already explicitly set by something else (since 5.61 and with CMake >= 3.7).

Inclusion of this module defines the following variables:

KDE_INSTALL_<dir>

destination for files of a given type

KDE_INSTALL_FULL_<dir>

corresponding absolute path

where <dir> is one of (default values in parentheses and alternative, deprecated variable name in square brackets):

BUNDLEDIR

application bundles (/Applications/KDE) [BUNDLE_INSTALL_DIR]

EXECROOTDIR

executables and libraries (<empty>) [EXEC_INSTALL_PREFIX]

BINDIR

user executables (EXECROOTDIR/bin) [BIN_INSTALL_DIR]

SBINDIR

system admin executables (EXECROOTDIR/sbin) [SBIN_INSTALL_DIR]

LIBDIR

object code libraries (EXECROOTDIR/lib, EXECROOTDIR/lib64 or EXECROOTDIR/lib/<multiarch-tuple on Debian) [LIB_INSTALL_DIR]

LIBEXECDIR

executables for internal use by programs and libraries (BINDIR on Windows, LIBDIR/libexec otherwise) [LIBEXEC_INSTALL_DIR]

CMAKEPACKAGEDIR

CMake packages, including config files (LIBDIR/cmake) [CMAKECONFIG_INSTALL_PREFIX]

QTPLUGINDIR

Qt plugins (LIBDIR/plugins or qmake-qt5’s QT_INSTALL_PLUGINS) [QT_PLUGIN_INSTALL_DIR]

PLUGINDIR

Plugins (QTPLUGINDIR) [PLUGIN_INSTALL_DIR]

QTQUICKIMPORTSDIR

QtQuick1 imports (QTPLUGINDIR/imports or qmake-qt5’s QT_INSTALL_IMPORTS) [IMPORTS_INSTALL_DIR]

QMLDIR

QtQuick2 imports (LIBDIR/qml or qmake-qt5’s QT_INSTALL_QML) [QML_INSTALL_DIR]

INCLUDEDIR

C and C++ header files (include) [INCLUDE_INSTALL_DIR]

LOCALSTATEDIR

modifiable single-machine data (var)

SHAREDSTATEDIR

modifiable architecture-independent data (com)

DATAROOTDIR

read-only architecture-independent data root (BINDIR/data on Windows, share otherwise) [SHARE_INSTALL_PREFIX]

DATADIR

read-only architecture-independent data (DATAROOTDIR) [DATA_INSTALL_DIR]

DOCBUNDLEDIR

documentation bundles generated using kdoctools (DATAROOTDIR/doc/HTML) [HTML_INSTALL_DIR]

KCFGDIR

kconfig description files (DATAROOTDIR/config.kcfg) [KCFG_INSTALL_DIR]

KCONFUPDATEDIR

kconf_update scripts (DATAROOTDIR/kconf_update) [KCONF_UPDATE_INSTALL_DIR]

KSERVICES5DIR or (since 5.89) KSERVICESDIR

services for KDE Frameworks 5 (DATAROOTDIR/kservices5) [SERVICES_INSTALL_DIR]

KSERVICETYPES5DIR or (since 5.89) KSERVICETYPESDIR

service types for KDE Frameworks 5 (DATAROOTDIR/kservicetypes5) [SERVICETYPES_INSTALL_DIR]

KXMLGUI5DIR or (since 5.89) KXMLGUIDIR

kxmlgui .rc files (DATAROOTDIR/kxmlgui5) [KXMLGUI_INSTALL_DIR]

KAPPTEMPLATESDIR

KAppTemplate and KDevelop templates (DATAROOTDIR/kdevappwizard/templates) [KDE_INSTALL_KTEMPLATESDIR] Since 5.77.

KFILETEMPLATESDIR

KDevelop file templates (DATAROOTDIR/kdevfiletemplates/templates) Since 5.77.

KNOTIFY5RCDIR or (since 5.89) KNOTIFYRCDIR

knotify description files (DATAROOTDIR/knotifications5) [KNOTIFYRC_INSTALL_DIR]

ICONDIR

icons (DATAROOTDIR/icons) [ICON_INSTALL_DIR]

LOCALEDIR

locale-dependent data (DATAROOTDIR/locale) [LOCALE_INSTALL_DIR]

SOUNDDIR

sound files (DATAROOTDIR/sounds) [SOUND_INSTALL_DIR]

TEMPLATEDIR

templates (DATAROOTDIR/templates) [TEMPLATES_INSTALL_DIR]

WALLPAPERDIR

desktop wallpaper images (DATAROOTDIR/wallpapers) [WALLPAPER_INSTALL_DIR]

APPDIR

application desktop files (DATAROOTDIR/applications) Since 1.1.0. [XDG_APPS_INSTALL_DIR]

DESKTOPDIR

desktop directories (DATAROOTDIR/desktop-directories) [XDG_DIRECTORY_INSTALL_DIR]

MIMEDIR

mime description files (DATAROOTDIR/mime/packages) [XDG_MIME_INSTALL_DIR]

METAINFODIR

AppStream component metadata files (DATAROOTDIR/metainfo)

QTQCHDIR

documentation bundles in QCH format for Qt-extending libraries (DATAROOTDIR/doc/qch or qmake-qt5’s QT_INSTALL_DOCS) Since 5.36.0.

QCHDIR

documentation bundles in QCH format (DATAROOTDIR/doc/qch) Since 5.36.0.

MANDIR

man documentation (DATAROOTDIR/man) [MAN_INSTALL_DIR]

INFODIR

info documentation (DATAROOTDIR/info)

DBUSDIR

D-Bus (DATAROOTDIR/dbus-1)

DBUSINTERFACEDIR

D-Bus interfaces (DBUSDIR/interfaces) [DBUS_INTERFACES_INSTALL_DIR]

DBUSSERVICEDIR

D-Bus session services (DBUSDIR/services) [DBUS_SERVICES_INSTALL_DIR]

DBUSSYSTEMSERVICEDIR

D-Bus system services (DBUSDIR/system-services) [DBUS_SYSTEM_SERVICES_INSTALL_DIR]

SYSCONFDIR

read-only single-machine data (etc, or /etc if CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX is /usr) [SYSCONF_INSTALL_DIR]

CONFDIR

application configuration files (SYSCONFDIR/xdg) [CONFIG_INSTALL_DIR]

AUTOSTARTDIR

autostart files (CONFDIR/autostart) [AUTOSTART_INSTALL_DIR]

LOGGINGCATEGORIESDIR

Qt logging categories files directory (DATAROOTDIR/qlogging-categories5) Since 5.59.0

JARDIR

Java AAR/JAR files for Android. Since 5.62.0

SYSTEMDUNITDIR

Systemd Units (lib/systemd) [SYSTEMD_UNIT_INSTALL_DIR]. Since 5.65

SYSTEMDUSERUNITDIR

Systemd User Units (lib/systemd/user) [SYSTEMD_USER_UNIT_INSTALL_DIR]. Since 5.65

ZSHAUTOCOMPLETEDIR

Zsh functions and autocompletion definitions (zsh/site-functions) Since 5.101

If KDE_INSTALL_USE_QT_SYS_PATHS is set to TRUE before including this module, the default values for some variables are instead queried from Qt5’s qmake (where mentioned in the parentheses above). If not set, it will default to TRUE if Qt5’s qmake is found and it’s QT_INSTALL_PREFIX is the same as CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX, otherwise default to FALSE. This variable should NOT be set from within CMakeLists.txt files, instead is intended to be set manually when configuring a project which uses KDEInstallDirs (e.g. by packagers).

If KDE_INSTALL_DIRS_NO_DEPRECATED is set to TRUE before including this module, the deprecated variables (listed in the square brackets above) are not defined.

In addition, for each KDE_INSTALL_* variable, an equivalent CMAKE_INSTALL_* variable is defined. If KDE_INSTALL_DIRS_NO_DEPRECATED is set to TRUE, only those variables defined by the GNUInstallDirs module (shipped with CMake) are defined. If KDE_INSTALL_DIRS_NO_CMAKE_VARIABLES is set to TRUE, no variables with a CMAKE_ prefix will be defined by this module (other than CMAKE_INSTALL_DEFAULT_COMPONENT_NAME - see below).

The KDE_INSTALL_<dir> variables (or their CMAKE_INSTALL_<dir> or deprecated counterparts) may be passed to the DESTINATION options of install() commands for the corresponding file type. They are set in the CMake cache, and so the defaults above can be overridden by users.

Note that if the KDE_INSTALL_<dir>, CMAKE_INSTALL_<dir> or deprecated form of the variable are set before include(KDEInstallDirs), they won’t be overwritten by KDEInstallDirs. This is useful if you eg. want to use CMake command line variable definitions to set custom values. There are however some other implications you need to be aware of: GNUInstallDirs defines CMAKE_INSTALL_<dir> variables, before hence KDEInstallDirs will not overwrite them if it is included later. In most cases this is unintended and if you need to include GNUInstallDirs you should always do that after after you included KDEInstallDirs.

If you set custom values to KDE_INSTALL_<dir> or CMAKE_INSTALL_<dir> as described above always both forms of the variable will be affected. The effect of passing multiple forms of the same variable eg. on the command line (such as KDE_INSTALL_BINDIR and CMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR) is undefined and should be avoided.

The variable KDE_INSTALL_TARGETS_DEFAULT_ARGS is also defined (along with the deprecated form INSTALL_TARGETS_DEFAULT_ARGS). This should be used when libraries or user-executable applications are installed, in the following manner:

```
install(TARGETS mylib myapp ${KDE_INSTALL_TARGETS_DEFAULT_ARGS})
```

It MUST NOT be used for installing plugins, system admin executables or executables only intended for use internally by other code. Those should use KDE_INSTALL_PLUGINDIR, KDE_INSTALL_SBINDIR or KDE_INSTALL_LIBEXECDIR respectively.

Additionally, CMAKE_INSTALL_DEFAULT_COMPONENT_NAME will be set to ${PROJECT_NAME} to provide a sensible default for this CMake option.

Note that mixing absolute and relative paths, particularly for BINDIR, LIBDIR and INCLUDEDIR, can cause issues with exported targets. Given that the default values for these are relative paths, relative paths should be used on the command line when possible (eg: use -DKDE_INSTALL_LIBDIR=lib64 instead of -DKDE_INSTALL_LIBDIR=/usr/lib/lib64 to override the library directory).

Since 5.82.0, prior to that available as KDEInstallDirs <#kde-module:KDEInstallDirs>.

NB: The variables starting KDE_INSTALL_ are available since 1.6.0, unless otherwise noted with the variable.

The KDE_INSTALL_PREFIX_SCRIPT option will install a ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/prefix.sh file that allows to easily incorporate the necessary environment variables for the prefix into a process.

### KDEInstallDirs6
Define KDE standard installation directories for Qt6/KF6 based software.

Note that none of the variables defined by this module provide any information about the location of already-installed KDE software.

Also sets CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX to the installation prefix of ECM, unless that variable has been already explicitly set by something else.

Inclusion of this module defines the following variables:

KDE_INSTALL_<dir>

destination for files of a given type

KDE_INSTALL_FULL_<dir>

corresponding absolute path

where <dir> is one of (default values in parentheses):

BUNDLEDIR

application bundles (/Applications/KDE)

EXECROOTDIR

executables and libraries (<empty>)

BINDIR

user executables (EXECROOTDIR/bin)

SBINDIR

system admin executables (EXECROOTDIR/sbin)

LIBDIR

object code libraries (EXECROOTDIR/lib, EXECROOTDIR/lib64 or EXECROOTDIR/lib/<multiarch-tuple on Debian)

LIBEXECDIR

executables for internal use by programs and libraries (BINDIR on Windows, LIBDIR/libexec otherwise)

CMAKEPACKAGEDIR

CMake packages, including config files (LIBDIR/cmake)

QTPLUGINDIR

Qt plugins (LIBDIR/plugins or qtpaths’s QT_INSTALL_PLUGINS)

PLUGINDIR

Plugins (QTPLUGINDIR) [PLUGIN_INSTALL_DIR]

QMLDIR

QtQuick2 imports (LIBDIR/qml or qtpaths’s QT_INSTALL_QML)

INCLUDEDIR

C and C++ header files (include)

LOCALSTATEDIR

modifiable single-machine data (var)

SHAREDSTATEDIR

modifiable architecture-independent data (com)

DATAROOTDIR

read-only architecture-independent data root (BINDIR/data on Windows, share otherwise)

DATADIR

read-only architecture-independent data (DATAROOTDIR)

DOCBUNDLEDIR

documentation bundles generated using kdoctools (DATAROOTDIR/doc/HTML)

KCFGDIR

kconfig description files (DATAROOTDIR/config.kcfg)

KCONFUPDATEDIR

kconf_update scripts (DATAROOTDIR/kconf_update)

KXMLGUIDIR

kxmlgui .rc files (DATAROOTDIR/kxmlgui5)

KAPPTEMPLATESDIR

KAppTemplate and KDevelop templates (DATAROOTDIR/kdevappwizard/templates)

KFILETEMPLATESDIR

KDevelop file templates (DATAROOTDIR/kdevfiletemplates/templates)

KNOTIFYRCDIR

knotify description files (DATAROOTDIR/knotifications6)

ICONDIR

icons (DATAROOTDIR/icons)

LOCALEDIR

locale-dependent data (DATAROOTDIR/locale)

SOUNDDIR

sound files (DATAROOTDIR/sounds)

TEMPLATEDIR

templates (DATAROOTDIR/templates)

WALLPAPERDIR

desktop wallpaper images (DATAROOTDIR/wallpapers)

APPDIR

application desktop files (DATAROOTDIR/applications)

DESKTOPDIR

desktop directories (DATAROOTDIR/desktop-directories)

MIMEDIR

mime description files (DATAROOTDIR/mime/packages)

METAINFODIR

AppStream component metadata files (DATAROOTDIR/metainfo)

QTQCHDIR

documentation bundles in QCH format for Qt-extending libraries (DATAROOTDIR/doc/qch or qtpaths’s QT_INSTALL_DOCS)

QCHDIR

documentation bundles in QCH format (DATAROOTDIR/doc/qch)

QTMETATYPESDIR

Qt metatypes files (metatypes or qtpaths’s QT_INSTALL_ARCHDATA/metatypes). Since 6.27.

MANDIR

man documentation (DATAROOTDIR/man)

INFODIR

info documentation (DATAROOTDIR/info)

DBUSDIR

D-Bus (DATAROOTDIR/dbus-1)

DBUSINTERFACEDIR

D-Bus interfaces (DBUSDIR/interfaces)

DBUSSERVICEDIR

D-Bus session services (DBUSDIR/services)

DBUSSYSTEMSERVICEDIR

D-Bus system services (DBUSDIR/system-services)

SYSCONFDIR

read-only single-machine data (etc, or /etc if CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX is /usr)

CONFDIR

application configuration files (SYSCONFDIR/xdg)

AUTOSTARTDIR

autostart files (CONFDIR/autostart)

LOGGINGCATEGORIESDIR

Qt logging categories files directory (DATAROOTDIR/qlogging-categories6)

JARDIR

Java AAR/JAR files for Android.

SYSTEMDUNITDIR

Systemd Units (lib/systemd)

SYSTEMDUSERUNITDIR

Systemd User Units (lib/systemd/user)

If KDE_INSTALL_USE_QT_SYS_PATHS is set to TRUE before including this module, the default values for some variables are instead queried from Qt6’s qmake (where mentioned in the parentheses above). If not set, it will default to TRUE if Qt6’s qmake is found and it’s QT_INSTALL_PREFIX is the same as CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX, otherwise default to FALSE. This variable should NOT be set from within CMakeLists.txt files, instead is intended to be set manually when configuring a project which uses KDEInstallDirs (e.g. by packagers).

In addition, for each KDE_INSTALL_* variable, an equivalent CMAKE_INSTALL_* variable is defined, if such a variable is also defined by the GNUInstallDirs module (shipped with CMake). If KDE_INSTALL_DIRS_NO_CMAKE_VARIABLES is set to TRUE, no variables with a CMAKE_ prefix will be defined by this module (other than CMAKE_INSTALL_DEFAULT_COMPONENT_NAME - see below).

The KDE_INSTALL_<dir> variables may be passed to the DESTINATION options of install() commands for the corresponding file type. They are set in the CMake cache, and so the defaults above can be overridden by users.

Note that if the KDE_INSTALL_<dir> or CMAKE_INSTALL_<dir> variables are set before include(KDEInstallDirs), they won’t be overwritten by KDEInstallDirs. This is useful if you eg. want to use CMake command line variable definitions to set custom values. There are however some other implications you need to be aware of: GNUInstallDirs defines CMAKE_INSTALL_<dir> variables, before hence KDEInstallDirs will not overwrite them if it is included later. In most cases this is unintended and if you need to include GNUInstallDirs you should always do that after after you included KDEInstallDirs. Be aware that Qt uses GNUInstallDirs since Qt6 and hence find_package(Qt6 ...) is equivalent to include(GNUInstallDirs) in this case.

If you set custom values to KDE_INSTALL_<dir> or CMAKE_INSTALL_<dir> as described above always both forms of the variable will be affected. The effect of passing multiple forms of the same variable eg. on the command line (such as KDE_INSTALL_BINDIR and CMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR) is undefined and should be avoided.

The variable KDE_INSTALL_TARGETS_DEFAULT_ARGS is also defined. This should be used when libraries or user-executable applications are installed, in the following manner:

```
install(TARGETS mylib myapp ${KDE_INSTALL_TARGETS_DEFAULT_ARGS})
```

It MUST NOT be used for installing plugins, system admin executables or executables only intended for use internally by other code. Those should use KDE_INSTALL_PLUGINDIR, KDE_INSTALL_SBINDIR or KDE_INSTALL_LIBEXECDIR respectively.

Additionally, CMAKE_INSTALL_DEFAULT_COMPONENT_NAME will be set to ${PROJECT_NAME} to provide a sensible default for this CMake option.

Note that mixing absolute and relative paths, particularly for BINDIR, LIBDIR and INCLUDEDIR, can cause issues with exported targets. Given that the default values for these are relative paths, relative paths should be used on the command line when possible (eg: use -DKDE_INSTALL_LIBDIR=lib64 instead of -DKDE_INSTALL_LIBDIR=/usr/lib/lib64 to override the library directory).

The KDE_INSTALL_PREFIX_SCRIPT option will install a ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/prefix.sh file that allows to easily incorporate the necessary environment variables for the prefix into a process.

### KDEMetaInfoPlatformCheck
By including this module there will be an automatic check between the supported platforms listed in the metainfo.yaml file and the current platform that is the target of the build

If the current platform that is the target of the build is not supported a CMake FATAL_ERROR will be issued

The check can be ignored by setting KF_IGNORE_PLATFORM_CHECK to ON.

Since 5.93

### KDEPackageAppTemplates
Packages KApptemplate/KDevelop compatible application templates

This module provides a functionality to package in a tarball and install project templates compatible with the format used by KApptemplate and KDevelop. Useful for providing minimal examples for the usage of the KDE Frameworks.

This module provides the following function:

```
kde_package_app_templates(TEMPLATES <template> [<template> [...]]

                          INSTALL_DIR <directory>)
```

INSTALL_DIR is the directory to install the template package to. In most cases you will want to use the variable KDE_INSTALL_KAPPTEMPLATESDIR from KDEInstallDirs <#kde-module:KDEInstallDirs>.

TEMPLATES lists subdirectories containing template files; each <template> directory will be packaged into a file named <template>.tar.bz2 and installed to the appropriate location.

The template is a minimal source tree of an application as if it was an application project by itself, with names (file names or text inside) the text files replaced by the following placeholders when needed:

%{PROJECTDIRNAME}

name of generated project base folder ex: %{APPNAMELC} for KAppTemplate

%{APPNAME}

project name as entered by user ex: MyKApp

%{APPNAMELC}

project name in lower case ex: mykapp

%{APPNAMEUC}

project name in upper case ex: MYKAPP

%{CPP_TEMPLATE}

license header for cpp file

%{H_TEMPLATE}

license header for h file

%{AUTHOR}

author name ex: George Ignacious

%{EMAIL}

author email ex: <foo@bar.org>

%{VERSION}

project version ex: 0.1

Deprecated:

%{dest}

path of generated project base folder, used in .kdevtemplate with the ShowFilesAfterGeneration entry KDevelop >= 5.1.1 supports relative paths with that entry, making this placeholder obsolete

Multiple templates can be passed at once.

Unless setting KDE_INSTALL_APP_TEMPLATES, this function is skipped when cross-compiling.

Since 5.18

## SEE ALSO
ecm(7) <#manual:ecm(7)>, ecm-modules(7) <#manual:ecm-modules(7)>, ecm-find-modules(7) <#manual:ecm-find-modules(7)>

## Copyright
KDE Developers